Month: November 2016

Allied, or They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To

Allied is an injection-filled wartime romance in the classic mold that can’t help but feel like a loving but noticeably artificial knock-off.

Maybe its the CG-augmented opening shot of a rolling desert, straight out of Lawrence of Arabia, or the cinematically-significant setting — Casablanca no less, known equally for the city and the film that inspired the name of this very site — that director Robert Zemeckis shoots sweepingly but without particular character.…

Your Name: the House of Miyazaki isn’t the only game in Tokyo

The major PR push for Your Name is that it was and remains a smash hit in Japan, making 15 billion yen ($170 million) at the box office over only 10 weeks, a base stat only made more impressive given that it’s a major Japanese animation not from Studio Ghibli.

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Free Fire (LFF Day 10)

Say what you want about overvaulting cinematic ambitions – I’m looking at you, Terrence – it’s sometimes refreshing to see a talented filmmaker take on a simple concept and carry it off with flair and aplomb.

In the case of Free Fire, the latest from British auteur Ben Wheatley, the concept is this: the third-act shootout, with which any self-respecting crime thriller must surely culminate, instead kicks off less than twenty minutes in and occupies the rest of its ninety-minute run-time.…

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – why bother?

Every movie star should have a backup franchise — just in case.

Chris Pratt, for instance, has Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy. Tom Hanks has the Da Vinci Code series and playing heroic real-life captains in films named for them, e.g.…

Their Finest (LFF Day 9)

If the BFI were determined to kick off LFF 2016 with a best-of-British film, they should have picked Their Finest.

True, director Lone Scherfig is a Dane and A United Kingdom has more of a social message; not to mention an irresistible title.…